Tigers take control of conference

The Lewisburg Middle School Tigers (7-1) took control of first place in the Southern Middle School Conference Monday night in Lewisburg with a down to the wire 40-35 win over Whitthorne (5-3).

The victory was the second of the year for LMS over their namesakes from Maury County.

Lewisburg's Kevin Peterson set the tone of the game in the first five seconds, burying a three-pointer on the Tigers' first possession, sending both squads into a well played run and gun ballgame.

Whitthorne went on to match Peterson and better, scoring the next eight points to quiet the home crowd.

Jesse Kilpatrick scored over top of the Whitthorne press to make it 8-5 and a Peterson jumper made it a one point game at 8-7.

Jalen Jones stole the rock on the visitors' next touch and found a streaking Barry Mayes for an easy lay-up to re-gain the lead at 9-8.

Each team would score again, making it an 11-10 LMS after the first eight minutes.

Back and forth it went for the entire second period until Whitthorne's Toby Frierson scored the last four points of the half, sending Whitthorne to the locker room with a 16-14 lead.

The LMS Tigers took control of the glass and the game in the third quarter, coming back to lead late by seven at 27-20 before Frierson nailed another quarter ending shot, this time a three-pointer to make it a four point game at 27-23.

Mayes drained a long bomb to open the fourth period for LMS and Peterson buried one of his own to stretch the lead to ten points, the largest margin in the contest.

Whitthorne kept scratching and clawing, tying the game at 35-35 with just over a minute to go.

Lewisburg's Vance Adgent took a great pass from Peterson on the next possession and kissed the ball off the glass with 34.5 left in the ballgame.

Adgent missed the free throw, but Peterson grabbed the rebound and found Mayes, who was fouled on the play, sending him to the line for a crucial one and one.

Whitthorne called time to ice Mayes to no avail as he sank the first shot, but missed the second attempt. Luckily, the rock bounced all the way back to Mayes, who was fouled once again with just 21.3 seconds remaining in the contest.

Mayes once again sank the first attempt to stretch the lead to the all-important four-point mark at 39-35 to make it a two-possession game.

Whitthorne called timeout with 20.9 left, but turned the ball over after the stoppage, sending Mayes back to the charity stripe, where he calmly iced the contest.

A desperation heave fell short for Whitthorne, giving the Tigers the huge 40-35 win over their archrivals.

Peterson led the Tigers in the scorebook, canning 12 points. Mayes was next with 10 points, including the crucial free throws down the stretch, Adgent netted 6, and Kilpatrick and Jones finished with 2 points apiece.

Girls blasted by Whitthorne

The Whitthorne girls handed the LMS Tigerettes one of the largest defeats in a long time, hammering the home team 60-10. LMS was held scoreless in the first quarter and had only two points at the half, never getting into the ballgame.

Twelve out of the fourteen players on the Whitthorne roster got into the scoring column, led by Kanytra Bumpus' 16.

Destiny Moore had a second half three-pointer for the Tigerettes for 3 points. Austyn Whaley and Justice Giacomo each had two points, and Noel Cashion had 1 point.